Safety & Occupational Health Manager

Summary

The Safety and Occupational Health Manager position will be responsible for development and management of comprehensive programs at the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial VA Medical Center in Walla Walla, WA.

To qualify for this position applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement – 03/02/2026. Time‑In‑Grade Requirement:
Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time‑in‑grade requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. For a GS‑13 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS‑12. The grade may have been in any occupation – but must have been held in the Federal service.

An SF‑50 that shows your time‑in‑grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF‑50 has an effective date within the past year – it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one‑year time‑in‑grade as required by the announcement. In this instance you must provide an additional SF‑50 that clearly demonstrates one‑year time‑in‑grade.

Note:

Time‑In‑Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

• Specialized
  
  Experience:
  
  You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS‑12 in the normal line of progression for the occupation. Examples of specialized experience would typically include – but are not limited to: plan – organize – direct – operate and evaluate a safety and occupational health program for warehousing, printing, steam plant, transportation and equipment maintenance operations;
  
  interpret engineer drawing sufficient to identify possible hazardous conditions; manage safety or occupational health program elements; develop and recommend safety and occupational health policy to higher levels of management; train workers, supervisors, managers or other safety and occupational health personnel in safety or occupational health subjects and work in occupational fields such as industrial hygienist, safety engineer, fire prevention engineer, health physicist, and occupational health nurse.
• You will be rated on the following competencies for this position:
  Communications, Compliance, Inspection, Leadership, Problem Solving, Public Safety and Security, Technical Competence.
• Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience – including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g. Peace Corps, Ameri Corps) and other organizations (e.g. professional, philanthropic, religious, spiritual, community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience – including volunteer experience.
  
  Note:
  
  A full year of work is considered to be 35‑40 hours of work per week. Part‑time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

The work is mostly sedentary; however walking, bending and climbing are required to inspect various activities – equipment and structures. Occasionally the job requires moderate physical exertion. When the job requires inspection of structure or construction – climbing of ladders and scaffolding, crawling, stretching, agility and dexterity may be demanded.

The incumbent's work is generally in an office setting but many duties require routine periodic visits to all areas of the medical center. Inspections must be performed inside and outside – on roofs – and under buildings – in areas that are often hot, damp and unsanitary. There is occasional exposure to high voltage, elevated level noise, high pressure steam…